It is sadly ironic that Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL is now considered his greatest film but in 1926 it's box-office failure meant his following films saw his creative imput restricted by greater studio interference.
SPITE MARRIAGE was his last silent film and the second under a new MGM contract. Buster wanted it to have sound but MGM didn't want to pay for the expensive new process just for a Keaton film.
It's frustrating to see him so constrained but every so often, genius breaks through.
Dry-cleaner Elmer borrows his customers' suits to be in the front-row every night to see the actress Trilby Drew, who he adores but she loves her leading man.
But when he rejects her, Trilby proposes to Elmer to spite the actor.
After a disasterous wedding night, her manager insists she leave Elmer - but you never know when you will need a hero...
Shelf or charity shop? A keeper for Buster even if the film is not worthy of his talents. The last third of the film where Elmer and Trilby are trapped on a yacht over-run with smugglers harks back to his 1924 classic THE NAVIGATOR but runs out of steam. Compensations are Buster's sweet performance, his excellent leading lady Dorothy Sebastian (they had a brief affair off-screen) and wonderful set-pieces that hint at possibilities not pursued: Elmer wrecking the play that Trilby stars in after replacing a supporting actor and, the high-point of the film, Elmer attempting to put a drunken Trilby to bed on their wedding night.
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